MACQUER, Pierre Joseph.

3 volumes, 8vo, pp. xxx, (ii) blank, 582, (2) blank; 1 leaf, pp. (3)–655; 1 leaf, pp. (3)–647, (3) blank. Some foxing, one or two wormholes through upper margin of vol. 3 becoming a short wormtrack in 20 leaves. Contemporary half sheep, sides rubbed, edges and tips of corners worn, head of spine of vol. 1 worn and foot a little chipped. Small printed book label of Citoyen J.-B. Breitel on titles.

Third edition of the first modern chemical dictionary. Although technical dictionaries had appeared earlier, this was the first attempt to cover the whole field of chemistry, pure and applied, in an encyclopaedic manner. The 26-page introduction traces the progress of chemistry from its origins to the time of Stahl and Boerhaave. The book was an immediate success and it was several times reprinted and translated; it produced many imitators. There are substantial entries for glass and wine. Cole 865. DSB, VIII, pp. 618–624. Partington III, pp. 80–90. See Parkinson, Breakthroughs, 1766. Neville pp. 114–115: “Printed in French, this Swiss edition is the first to be printed outside France. It ‘was copied from the original Paris edition, and the printer took note of all four substantial alterations listed after the preliminary discourse, making this the only version of the first edition with Macquer’s definitive text…”